Putin: "Stick to the timeline!"

[tsar4]

2 hours ago, Icarus27k said:

A Russian tank was left at a truck stop in the United States after the truck hauling it broke down. 

If only the owner of the truck stop had been able to get inside and crank the turret to point the cannon at his competition across the street.

[katt_goddess]

1 hour ago, Doom Metal Alchemist said:

..........I mean Bill legit stole an actual U.S. Army tank...

Yeah. And Dale proceeded to tell everyone that he could drive it because he had downloaded the manual in Russian, translated it, memorized it, and then eaten it.  

[Doom Metal Alchemist]

12 minutes ago, katt_goddess said:

Yeah. And Dale proceeded to tell everyone that he could drive it because he had downloaded the manual in Russian, translated it, memorized it, and then eaten it.  

Dale:
Manuals: 1
Tanks: 0

Bill:
Manuals: Who knows, he was already trained to drive tanks by the U.S. Army
Tanks: 1

[Icarus27k]

Basically what you need to know about this is one of the most influential English language online personalities who spreads pro-Putin, pro-war, pro-Russian information across various social networks (Telegram, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify) is a fake.

She claims to be a Russian born in Luhansk oblast in the Donbass, even putting on a Russian accent when interviewing pro-Russian people on her podcast, but she's actually an American born in New Jersey and raised in Washington state. 

 

[katt_goddess]

52 minutes ago, Icarus27k said:

Basically what you need to know about this is one of the most influential English language online personalities who spreads pro-Putin, pro-war, pro-Russian information across various social networks (Telegram, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify) is a fake.

She claims to be a Russian born in Luhansk oblast in the Donbass, even putting on a Russian accent when interviewing pro-Russian people on her podcast, but she's actually an American born in New Jersey and raised in Washington state. 

 

Are we SURE it's not just George Santos?

[tsar4]

Another careless smoking accident in Russia

[tsar4]

 

[tsar4]

Uneasy feeling in Moscow...

[Master-Debater131]

Of course Russia is anxious for the looming counteroffensive. Ukraine has been prepping for this for a while, and NATO has been helping them with the plans. Bradleys and Leopards are on the ground in Ukraine now and are better than virtually anything that Russia can bring to the table at this point. Abrams will be arriving sometime this summer as well. The UA has turned into a highly modernized fighting force that is proving to be very adept at its job.

If the UA starts to retake large swaths of territory then it could result in a full collapse of the Russian army. And if the UA really does make it all the way to Crimea? Woah boy. That would be just massive.

The UA still has to prove it, but they have a lot of confidence right now. Theres no reason to think that their counteroffensive wont produce some results.

[Icarus27k]

One of the weirdest things about the U.S. response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is how the State Department seems more hawkish than the military and intel community.

Gen. Mark Milley (chairman of the Joint Chiefs) will say something like, "that may not be a realistic military goal for Ukraine to pursue" and someone like Wendy Sherman (Deputy Secretary of State) will respond, "ACTUALLY what the General meant was..."

 

 

I am now uncomfortable with Blinken and would feel better if changes are made at State at the soonest responsible time.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Icarus27k

[Icarus27k]

 

Why Russia would demonstrate its weakness for us, I can't say. 

[Icarus27k]

 

I think that's called "bombing your own city". 

[katt_goddess]

I didn't know that old aircraft can suffer from explosive diarrhea. 

*the more you know rainbow...

[tsar4]

Chinese ambassador to France - Former Soviet Republics have no standing as independent countries

[Jman]

 

“Immortals.  We put their name to the test.”

[tsar4]

Win ~$550K USD

[André Toulon]

On 4/22/2023 at 3:14 PM, Jman said:

 

“Immortals.  We put their name to the test.”

Jeeze, this might be the most harrowing thing I've ever laughed at.

[tsar4]

Ukrainian soldiers help out a rare Marbled Polecat

[tsar4]

Russia issues veiled threat toward Ireland

Edited April 29, 2023 by tsar4

[Icarus27k]

1 hour ago, tsar4 said:

Russia issues veiled threat toward Ireland

I'm pretty exhausted by Russian government threats. One thing I'm really looking forward to is being able to ignore Russia again when geopolitics finally calms down. Basically I can't wait to not having to listen to Russia speak about anything once again. 

(I really think I hate it as a country now.) 

[Master-Debater131]

Russian official: Ukrainian drones strike Crimea oil depot

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-crimea-drone-29218ed006a79c4b0629688ce4820cc8

"

 

1 of 9

In this handout photo taken from video released by the Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev telegram channel on Saturday, April 29, 2023, smoke and flame rise from a burning fuel tank in Sevastopol, Crimea. A massive fire erupted at an oil reservoir there after it was hit by a drone, a Russian-appointed official there reported on Saturday. (Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev telegram channel via AP)

 

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive fire erupted at an oil depot in Crimea after it was hit by two of Ukraine’s drones, a Russia-appointed official there reported Saturday, the latest in a series of attacks on the annexed peninsula as Russia braces for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, a port city in Crimea, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel."

[tsar4]

You'd think that the Russkies would give up those cigarettes.

[tsar4]

I'll bet it was the Nine-Eyed Carp, it's always the Nine-Eyed Carp!

[Icarus27k]

Ukraine and the U.S. work together on intelligence sharing and the U.S. knows specifics like what the targets of Russian missiles are going to be. Might explain the crazy high success rate of air Ukrainian defense, which I laughed off and thought was absurd when I first heard it. 

 

Today, Russia supposedly launched a volley of missiles. I've been following it on social media. But the weird thing is there doesn't seem to be many reported impacts inside Ukraine as of yet. That could change, but right now it's really weird to have missiles launched but we don't know what happened to them.

[Raptorpat]

Russia claims Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin at the Kremlin via drone, Ukraine denies it.

 

[tsar4]

4 hours ago, Raptorpat said:

Russia claims Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin at the Kremlin via drone, Ukraine denies it.

 

They seemed awfully small to have traveled from Ukraine.  Not much of a payload either.  I think it was an inside job or false flag.  

Edit: on further reflection, perhaps one of the oligarchs was finding himself low on vodka, and used Russian Amazon Drone delivery.

Edited May 3, 2023 by tsar4

[Icarus27k]

The Kremlin drone seems like another one of these weird flashpoints that have been occurring over 15 months of the war. Things like the Nordstream pipeline explosion, the Ukrainian missile that fell in Poland, the Kerch bridge attack, those Russians fighting on Ukraine's side shooting up a Russian border town, the U.S. drone that was downed over the Black Sea, the killing of the daughter of Dugin, and scores of other mysterious fires and explosions in Russia. 

 

Whether anything comes out of the Kremlin drone story (like Russian retaliation), I don't know. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Icarus27k

[tsar4]

6 minutes ago, Icarus27k said:

The Kremlin drone seems like another one of these weird flashpoints that have been occurring over 15 months of the war. Things like the Nordstream pipeline explosion, the Ukrainian missile that fell in Poland, the Kerch bridge attack, those Russians fighting on Ukraine's side shooting up a Russian border town, the U.S. drive that was downed over the Black Sea, the killing of the daughter of Dugin, and scores of other mysterious fires and explosions in Russia. 

About that Nord Steam pipeline...

[Master-Debater131]

Theres no way that drone attack was Ukraine. Its perfectly staged for Russia to use as propaganda and an excuse to do even worse war crimes in Ukraine.

[Icarus27k]

I'm thinking the Kremlin drones are the actions of some unknown, amateurish actor. I base that on the fact the U.S. says they had no foreknowledge this was going to occur. 

I would think the U.S. would detect either a Ukrainian government - ordered operation or a Russian government false flag event. And they didn't detect either. So some "off the grid" culprits did it. 

[Icarus27k]

I watched Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines' testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee today. The intelligence community seems pretty sure Putin has reduced his goals to 1. keeping control of the Ukrainian land it currently occupies and 2. keeping Ukraine from joining NATO. That's what he would consider a win now. 

 

Also, the new, post-Soviet army that Putin had been building since the 00s (the one he had confidence in because of operations in Georgia, Syria and Crimea) is destroyed, and he's fallen back on Soviet era styles of combat and even equipment. It will take Russia 5-10 years to reconstitute its army. 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Icarus27k

[Icarus27k]

 

So this is a fascinating subplot. Prigozhin is the leader of the Wagner group, a paramilitary organization that is controlled by the Russian government but is distinct from the military. He's an evil guy who runs an evil organization that commits grisly human rights abuses, but he's also one of the only Russians willing to openly criticize the Russian government. He has a special hatred for the Russian military commanders (again, shocking).

 

It seems like a bizarre civil war among the Russians. I think Prigozhin is just begging to be killed by his own government because he's being such an inconvenience. 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Icarus27k

[Seight]

1 hour ago, Icarus27k said:

 

So this is a fascinating subplot. Prigozhin is the leader of the Wagner group, a paramilitary organization that is controlled by the Russian government but is distinct from the military. He's an evil guy who runs an evil organization that commits grisly human rights abuses, but he's also one of the only Russians willing to openly criticize the Russian government. He has a special hatred for the Russian military commanders (again, shocking).

 

It seems like a bizarre civil war among the Russians. I think Prigozhin is just begging to be killed by his own government because he's being such an inconvenience. 

I believe it's that autonomy that will ultimately do him in, but short-term gives him the ability to go "Wait a minute, these plans are fucking stupid."

[Master-Debater131]

Thats big news. If Russia is starting to evacuate areas then the counteroffensive is either underway our about to get underway, and Russia expects to lose when it gets going.

 

[Raptorpat]

10 hours ago, Icarus27k said:

So some "off the grid" culprits did it.

is the Kremlin really "off the grid" though

[Icarus27k]

Russia 'Very Unlikely' to Use Nuclear Weapons, US Intel Chief

 

By Reuters

May 4, 2023

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is very unlikely to use its nuclear weapons, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Thursday, despite past saber-rattling from the Kremlin and the heavy casualties that eMoscow is enduring in its invasion of Ukraine.

"It's very unlikely, is our current assessment," Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Nuclear tensions between Russia and the United States have increased since the start of the conflict with Ukraine with Putin repeatedly warning that Russia is ready to use its nuclear arsenal if necessary to defend its "territorial integrity."

 

In February, Putin announced Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms pact with the United States, which limits the number of strategic warheads each side can deploy.

Haines did not elaborate on the U.S. intelligence community assessment.

 

U.S. officials for months have said they have not seen signs Russia was preparing to employ nuclear weapons but also cautioned that they were staying vigilant.

 

Last month, a top U.S. diplomat publicly said the United States and its NATO allies needed to remain alert for signs Russian President Vladimir Putin could use a tactical nuclear weapon in a "managed" escalation of his war in Ukraine.

 

Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman pointed to Putin's March 25 announcement that Russia was preparing to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus "is his effort to use this threat in a managed way."

 

Still, there have also been assurances of nuclear restraint from Moscow.

 

Last week the Kremlin played down the idea that Russia might be preparing to carry out a nuclear weapons test, saying all nuclear states were abiding by a moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.

[Icarus27k]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pared back his goals in the war in Ukraine to focus only on maintaining territory he has already seized, according to a new U.S. intelligence community assessment.

Moscow has also decided to focus on its goal of preventing Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), told lawmakers Thursday.

“We assess that Putin probably has scaled back his immediate ambitions to consolidate control of the occupied territory in eastern and southern Ukraine and ensuring that Ukraine will never become a NATO ally,” Haines said.

 

“He may be willing to claim at least a temporary victory based on roughly the territory he has occupied,” Haines added.

 

It’s a stark analysis from the U.S. intelligence community that comes over one year into a war that has left Russian forces with hundreds of thousands of casualties and without significant territorial gains. Russian armed forces have failed to seize significant swaths of territory in the last several months in Ukraine, despite reported plans to seize more territory in Eastern Ukraine by March.

In April alone, Russian forces gained less territory than during any of the three previous months while they transition to defensive rather than offensive operations, according to Haines.

 

It’s not the first time that Putin has appeared to adjust his goals in Ukraine. When Russian troops tried and failed to seize Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, due to logistics and resupply issues last year, Russian forces shifted focus to eastern Ukraine. But the U.S. government’s assessment at the time was that Putin still had designs to take over the entirety of the country, as The Daily Beast reported.

 

And yet, a negotiated settlement doesn’t appear to be an inevitability, Haines indicated.

 

“Even as Putin may be scaling back his near-term ambitions, the prospect for Russian concessions to advance negotiations this year will be low unless domestic political vulnerabilities alter his thinking,” she said.

U.S. officials have been noting in recent days that military battles alone might not bring about an end to the conflict, hinting at a settlement in some form, even as Ukrainian officials insist that they hope to push Russians out of all territory Moscow has seized since 2014.

 

Ukrainian armed forces are preparing to launch a counteroffensive sometime in the spring or summer to push Russia out of territory in eastern Ukraine, according to U.S. intelligence.

 

“I do think that the probability of either side achieving their political objectives through the sole use of military means…is going to be very difficult, very challenging,” Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Foreign Affairs recently.

 

Secretary of State Tony Blinken encouraged negotiations for peace between Russia and Ukraine this week.

 

“We’re open to any country engaging in responsible efforts to try to advance peace, and that begins with a couple of things. It begins, first of all, with the recognition… that what’s fundamentally at stake is the territorial integrity and sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, so any peace agreement has to have that as its foundation,” Blinken told Fox News in an interview.

 

[Master-Debater131]

Some just stunning video coming out from Bakhmut today. The Russians are apparently covering the entire city in white phosphorus to try and burn anything and everything to the ground. They are burning anything that is left to the ground before they retreat next week. Its absolutely a War Crime, but sadly nothing is going to come from this.

[Icarus27k]

[Icarus27k]

It'll probably be 5-10 years before Russia can conceivably threaten anyone with their land forces again. 

 

I hasten to add the Russian air force and navy, along with their strategic forces (i.e. nukes) are still formidable. But the bombing campaign of Ukrainian infrastructure, which was a failure, makes me think the air force has limited capabilities. I don't know if they can hit anything more complex than an electric substation. And what was up with them failing to ever obtain air superiority? 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Icarus27k

[tsar4]

I saw a video (can't find a copy) of the setup of the Church in which Charles will be coronated.  The aisle between the pews will have blue carpet, opening into an area before the alter carpeted in yellow with blue upholstered chairs.  A nice nod to Ukraine.

[Farg]

Wait until Russia brings out its elite troops, su-57s and short range ballistic nuclear. I’m not advocating for it, just hope people are aware what has happened so far is “the tip,” the tip.

[tsar4]

Patriot missile system shoots down Russian Hypersonic missile

Lucky shot, or has the US kept improvements to the system quiet?

[Icarus27k]

32 minutes ago, tsar4 said:

Patriot missile system shoots down Russian Hypersonic missile

Lucky shot, or has the US kept improvements to the system quiet?

I think it's more a case of Russia trying to hype these weapons unjustifiably. They believe these are magic superweapons when they aren't. 

edit: I'm referring to so-called "hypersonic" missiles. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Icarus27k

[Icarus27k]

West Looks at China’s Potential Role in Ending Ukraine War

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-and-allies-look-at-potential-china-role-in-ending-ukraine-war-2d6cbb4d

 

Paywalled article, but use https://archive.ph/

to read it. 

 

Basically, it's portraying Western nations, including the U.S., and even Ukrainian President Zelensky as being not as opposed to peace negotiations as before. Wait to see what the Ukrainian counteroffensive accomplishes and then get China (the nation that Putin relies on) to push Russia into negotiating. 

I've been really skeptical of negotiations for like a year, and I'm a little surprised to now see so many names possibly endorsing the idea. My impression was that all Ukrainians oppose it, but Zelensky's apparently considering it. 

But it hinges on China getting Putin to do it. That might not be hard. China seems to really want it and Putin is now basically dependent on China. 

Also, it seems like a cynical exercise because everyone knows Putin will be lying and just be scheming to possibly re-arm and attack again in the future. The thinking is EVEN CONSIDERING THAT, it would still be worth it because Russia has been so degraded that it will take a long time for them to be an offensive threat again. 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Icarus27k

[Farg]

4 hours ago, tsar4 said:

Patriot missile system shoots down Russian Hypersonic missile

Lucky shot, or has the US kept improvements to the system quiet?

It was probably a frigate with a directed energy weapon, and they covered it up 

[Icarus27k]

The NSC includes the president, vice president, the secretaries of Defense, State, Treasury, Justice, Energy and Homeland Security, the national security adviser, U.N. ambassador and chairman of the Joint Chiefs. 

If Biden, Lloyd Austin and Jake Sullivan agree with this "China gets Putin to negotiate" strategy, it'll probably be tried later this year. 

[Distortedreasoning]

this thread is good for a laugh. still waiting on that ukranian offensive lol. 

[stilgar]

2 hours ago, Distortedreasoning said:

this thread is good for a laugh. still waiting on that ukranian offensive lol. 

This thread is almost as funny as the Russian military. 

[Jman]

All their WWII era stuff is apparently on the front.